Cardio!

Hi all,
This week I wanted to step up the exercise, which for me can be hard because of my P.O.T.S. However on my good days I can manage a decent workout. It's all about finding what works best for me.
Cardio where I can sit down always works better for me, and this week I've been working on stepping up my time and distance on the exercise bike.
I'm actually wtiting this on my phone while pedalling away.
The exercise bike is great for me. I get a good cardio workout, I can adjust the speed and resistance to make the workout suit my current level. It's also great because being able to sit down, keeps my heart rate from climbing too high and making me collapse.
So, the exercise bike is definitely my favourite piece of cardio equipment.
What's your favourite cardio machine? Or if you don't use machines, what do you do for your cardio workout?

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Detox Diet | First Weigh In

Hi all,

Today was my first weigh in day, since I started detoxing. I began the detox last Monday, and only started properly following it on Tuesday, so I haven't done a full week yet, and as such I wasn't expecting a huge result on the scales.

I weighed in this morning, and I lost a pound. I was hoping to get two, but I'll take any loss I can get.

I'm excited now to see what happens after a full week of detox, and I'll admit that I am hoping to get more than a pound next week.

Things I need to work on going forwards, is getting more exercise, because I have been slacking off a little bit recently. I also need to get better at planning out meals ahead of time, which is why I've spent a very large amount of time on Yummly today, searching for recipes that I can have on detox.

I'll say this, detox is probably one of the hardest diets I've ever tried, simply because there are so many foods restricted, and that can make things tricky.

I do know, though, from previous experience, that I always do feel better once I've been on detox for a week or so.

This past week, I've been fighting the detox headaches. Mostly I'm suffering from giving up sugar, because I used to have a fairly large amount of sugar. Now it's the fifth full day on detox, and I no longer have a migraine headache, I do have a headache, but because of my health condition, I normally always do, and this one is nowhere near as bad.

Loss so Far: 41 lbs

Left to Go: 27 lbs

Detox

Hi all,
I decided it's time to try something new. At my last weigh in, I stayed the same and I wasn't happy about that. I knew I needed to refocus, and try something new.
Counting calories has been working really well for me, but now it's just not enough. I thought about doing low carbs again, because that went really well last time. However, then my mum said something, that what she'd really like to do is detox again. I thought, well why not?
I've followed a detox plan before and not only did I lose weight, but I also felt healthier.

So, what do it involve?
The detox plan we follow involves cutting out certain foods. Which is tough and can cause some headaches the first couple of days, but ultimately it's worth it.

What to cut out?

-Meat & Poultry
-Dairy
-Fish
-Eggs
-Sugar
-Gluten
-Caffeine

My personal variations

I'm keeping a small amount of fish and eggs in my diet, and I will be keeping caffeine. These are just some alterations that make the diet easier to follow, and make it less likely I'll go off plan.

So, today is my first day on detox. I'll let you know how it affects my weigh in on Saturday.

Danger Foods

Hi all,

Do you have those certain foods that you just can't say no to? I know I do, and it's not just an issue with not saying no, but not staying stop either.

Portion control was one of the first things I tackled, when I started counting calories and losing weight. I got into a habit of weighing things before eating them, and making sure I counted accurately. 

There are just a few problems. I have certain foods that I can't seem to stop myself eating, and in quantities that are not diet friendly.

There are really three main ones I have.

• Chocolate

A dieters nightmare! It tastes so amazing, and yet it really isn't a great use of my calories. Currently I'm on 1200 calories a day, and using 200-300 of those on one small bar, that isn't going to fill me up and doesn't offer much in the way of nutrition. That's not a great idea.

Still, I can't cut it out of my diet. Did I mention how amazing it tastes? So I do still eat it, more than once a week, and for the most part I make sure I count it in my calories and choose bars that have the lowest amount of calories in them.

The problem comes on those days when a bar of chocolate, will end up taking me over my calories. I have the mindset of thinking I can just eat it, go over my calories and work it off another day. If there's a bar of chocolate offered to me, I don't even think about calories, I just eat it. 

This is something I really need to work on.

• Roast Potatoes

It doesn't matter if they're homemade, or frozen ones. When I have a roast dinner, roast potatoes are always a part of it, and I love them. 

When I'm in charge of cooking, I've managed to become pretty good at limiting how many go onto my plate. Two is my limit and I'm strict about it.

The problem comes when it's someone else's night to cook. The other night, my sister cooked and when my plate came to me, there were FIVE potatoes on my plate. This was on a night when I hadn't counted for any on my tracker, because I've been going on and off low carb for a while. So I didn't have the calories for any of them, so I should have left them. If I couldn't leave them, I should have limited myself to one, two tops. I didn't. I ate all five, went over my calories and felt stuffed afterwards.

From now on, what I know I need to do is to stay in control of my portions. If it's not my night to cook, I need to either be in the kitchen when it's being dished up, or I need to make sure the person cooking knows how much I can have. If I don't, then whatever is on my plate, will end up being eaten.

• Pasta

I discovered while doing low carb, that cars are pretty much my favorite thing to eat as you may have guessed from the three foods I've listed as my danger foods.

Pasta is definitely one of my danger foods. It's very similar to the potatoes. I will eat whatever portion is dished up, because it's one of my favorite foods.

The solution is very much the same as with the potatoes. I need to make a plan of how much I can have within my daily allowance, and then make sure that's what ends up on my plate.

Do you have any danger foods that you can't control yourself around? What are your tips for quelling that urge to splurge?

Welcome to A Skinny Fit

Hi all,

Welcome to my brand new health and fitness blog, A Skinny Fit.

I decided to create this blog, because over on one of my other blogs Messy Little Moments, I'd started to write about my weight loss and fitness journey quite a lot. I really love writing about fitness, and I've been doing a lot of dieting, exercise and fitness stuff recently, and I'd like to share things with people. I didn't, however, want Messy Little Moments, to turn into a purely fitness blog, because that isn't what I started it for. So the natural next step, was for me to create a dedicated fitness blog. Hence, A Skinny Fit.

Here I'll be talking about my weight loss journey. Sharing my progress and goals. Writing about different exercise programs I try. Diets I follow. Share inspirational fitness things I come across and some healthy food ideas as well.

So, a little about me.

My name is Hannah. I'm 23 years old, and I'm a self published author. You can find out all about my general interests over at Messy Little Moments and all about my love of books and writing over at The Book Tower.

Back in 2008 I was a UK size 6-8. I was happy with my weight, but that wasn't going to last. In late 2008 I was diagnosed with P.O.T.S, an illness that severely limited the amount of activity I could do. For a long time I was struggling with my health, and I still don't have it under control, though it has improved over the years. Being at home, unable to do very much without fainting, made the weight start piling on. 

I was eating too much, not moving enough and before I knew it, my waistline was creeping up and it got to the point where I was weighing over 9st. I wasn't happy. So I decided to join Weight Watchers in 2009. I went with my mum, and for a while I was doing well. I never got down to goal, but I did lose some. Then I decided to leave Weight Watchers, and for a long time I yo-yo dieted but bad habits soon crept in.

By September 2014, I was weighing in at 13st 3lbs. I was wearing a size 16 and I was really unhappy with my weight and the way I looked in general.

So, I decided to start on a 30 days of fitness challenge. In those 30 days, I lost 11.5lbs. My mum and younger sister had joined weight watchers a couple of weeks after I started my fitness challenge, so I decided to join with them. I consistently lost weight with Weight Watchers, but in January this year, despite sticking to plan, my weight started staying the same, and then going up a bit. I needed a change, so I left Weight Watchers, and started trying it at home. 

In total so far, I've lost 40lbs, I have 28lbs left to go and I want to share my journey.

Current Weight

10st 5lbs

Goal Weight

8st 5lbs

Lost So Far

40lbs